Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote:
: See ! There are some things you can do better in DOS than in Windows :)

  The question was whether DOS is better than Linux in some things or not.

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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Ron Parker <ron### [at] povrayorg> wrote:
: Specifically, things that don't require the support of a full 32-bit
: multitasking, multiuser operating system, like flash BIOS updates or 
: lots of embedded and other industrial applications.

  If the program does not need those things, do they hurt it? I don't think
that multitasking, memory protection, etc. is a bad thing even if the program
doesn't need them (the program can't do any harm to your computer if it's
protected).
  I don't see why it's better to run programs in an unprotected environment.

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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On 9 Feb 2000 06:01:40 -0500, Nieminen Juha wrote:
>Ron Parker <ron### [at] povrayorg> wrote:
>  If the program does not need those things, do they hurt it? I don't think
>that multitasking, memory protection, etc. is a bad thing even if the program
>doesn't need them (the program can't do any harm to your computer if it's
>protected).

Sometimes, the program has to do some harm to your computer.  Take a BIOS flash
update (not necessarily your motherboard BIOS, but some other BIOS.)  Its only
goal in life is to do things to your hardware that are not normal operations.
The sort of protection against unvalidated hardware accesses that would 
normally be good is bad in this case.  Besides, multitasking, memory protection,
etc. take code and resources.  Resources are scarce in many embedded systems to 
begin with, and more code means more things that can break.

I'm not saying I agree with the notion that DOS is somehow better in that 
regard, since it seems to me that code with no OS at all or with a custom 
embedded OS would be even more streamlined for these purposes, but DOS is a 
nice compromise OS with lots of cheap, available tools.  

If I were doing it myself, of course, I'd probably choose Linux anyway, but DOS
does have its place, even today.

-- 
These are my opinions.  I do NOT speak for the POV-Team.
The superpatch: http://www2.fwi.com/~parkerr/superpatch/
My other stuff: http://www2.fwi.com/~parkerr/traces.html

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Ron Parker <ron### [at] povrayorg> wrote:
: Sometimes, the program has to do some harm to your computer.  Take a BIOS flash
: update (not necessarily your motherboard BIOS, but some other BIOS.)

  I think that you can make anything you like to your computer as root.

: Besides, multitasking, memory protection,
: etc. take code and resources.  Resources are scarce in many embedded systems to 
: begin with, and more code means more things that can break.

  How many embedded systems you know that are able to run DOS?-)

  I think that there are linux versions that are designed for embedded
systems.

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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Nieminen Juha wrote:

>   Disclaimer: I use the dos-box (well, actually the 4dos-box) a lot when
> I use windows. Some things are a lot easier to do in the command line than
> with windows explorer.

Have you used cygwin?  ( http://sourceware.cygnus.com/cygwin/ )
bash over command.com (or cmd.exe).  Great stuff.

dik

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Nieminen Juha wrote:

>   How many embedded systems you know that are able to run DOS?-)

I am working on a project where the legacy code is pascal on embedded DOS.
(New work is embedded WinCE.  An improvement maybe?)  This product has
been in the (industrial) field for 15 years.

dik

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"Nieminen Juha" <war### [at] punarastascstutfi> wrote in message
news:38a17ad2@news.povray.org...
> Ron Parker <ron### [at] povrayorg> wrote:
> : Sometimes, the program has to do some harm to your computer.  Take a
BIOS flash
> : update (not necessarily your motherboard BIOS, but some other BIOS.)
>
>   I think that you can make anything you like to your computer as root.

Yup.

> : Besides, multitasking, memory protection,
> : etc. take code and resources.  Resources are scarce in many embedded
systems to
> : begin with, and more code means more things that can break.
>
>   How many embedded systems you know that are able to run DOS?-)

All of them.  Hell, I have an 8088 system running DOS 6.22 very stable.

>   I think that there are linux versions that are designed for embedded
> systems.

Yup.  ELKS (http://www.elks.ecs.soton.ac.uk/), although last time I checked,
it wasn't very usable.

--
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Ian Burgmyer <the### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
: All of them.  Hell, I have an 8088 system running DOS 6.22 very stable.

  Isn't a 8088 just a regular (but very old) PC? I wouldn't call that
an "embedded system".

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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On 9 Feb 2000 09:33:54 -0500, Nieminen Juha
<war### [at] punarastascstutfi> wrote:

>  How many embedded systems you know that are able to run DOS?-)

Maybe AMD's embedded K6-II can do it? :)

>  I think that there are linux versions that are designed for embedded
>systems.

The freakiest thing I've heard to have Linux on was a gas pump. D'oh!


Peter Popov ICQ : 15002700
Personal e-mail : pet### [at] usanet
TAG      e-mail : pet### [at] tagpovrayorg

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Nieminen Juha wrote:

>   How many embedded systems you know that are able to run DOS?-)

A lot of cnc machines use embedded systems capable of running dos.

-- 
Ken Tyler - 1400+ POV-Ray, Graphics, 3D Rendering, and Raytracing Links:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html http://www.povray.org/links/

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